AUCTIONS are back on at the Macarthur Butter Factory this weekend after COVID-19 restrictions halted operations for six months.

Macarthur Butter Factory manager and auctioneer, Bruce Lowenthal has over thirty years of auctioneering experience behind him but has only been able to host three auctions at the venue since he purchased the building 18 months ago.

“We haven’t had one (an auction) in six months due to COVID, and you need a lot of people to host an auction, so it hasn’t been worth it,” he said.

“This weekend, we’ve got three elderly people who have gone into care, so we’ve got a lot of furniture, fine china, glassware, kerosene lamps, books - about 600 lots.

“It’s the items they couldn’t take with them, so there are some nice things amongst it.”

Previously used for wool processing, today, Mr Lowenthal uses the butter factory space to store auction items, restore furniture and host auctions.

Mr Lowenthal said the shutdown over the last six months has led to a backlog of items.

“We’ve got a bit of build up,” he said.

“We probably won’t have any (auctions) in January, and it depends how quickly the items come in, but we’ll probably have an auction every eight to ten weeks.”

As for this weekend, Mr Lowenthal said he expected around one to two hundred people to attend the auction but that it’s hard to tell at this stage.

“(We get) mixture of antique and second-hand dealers and collectors who collect things like the lamps or the Royal Doulton or people moving into a new home who want to buy something old, and a range of age groups,” he said.

“We expect around one to two hundred (people), depending on what else is on because now it’s a bit of an unknown (since restrictions lifted).”

For more information on this weekend’s auction and to see photos of the items for sale, visit lowenthalauctions.com.au.

The auction will be held this Sunday from 10.30 am with viewing on Saturday from 12 pm.